Members of the Memphis faith community have recognized the christian spirit and dedicated service of Tim Russell, an assistant pastor at Second Presbyterian Church, who died Monday, March 30 from the coronavirus.

And although the constraints of social distancing have temporarily halted many conventional expressions of sympathy, the choir from Second Presbyterian found a way to minister to Russell’s widow, Kathe.

The Heights Community Development Corp. has created a COVID-19 Response Fund to help residents struggling to pay their bills.

All funds raised will provide emergency assistance for residents struggling to find money to pay rent, mortgages and utility payments.

The Heights CDC serves several North Memphis neighborhoods including Highland Heights, Graham Heights and Mitchell Heights.

“Our community has a motto, 'We Rise By Lifting Others,'” Heights CDC Director Jared Myers said. “I have seen our neighborhood rally around each other and I know that during this time it will be no different. Join us as we lift each other up and get through this together.”

If you want to donate to the COVID-19 response fund, click here.

You can also donate a check through the mail with “COVID-19 RESPONSE FUND” in the memo to P.O. Box 221042 Memphis, TN 38122.

Small businesses can now apply for up to $15,000 in grant funding from a new program designed to help them weather COVID-19 pandemic-related hardships.

Businesses can apply for the Memphis Medical District Collaborative’s Small Business Emergency Assistance Fund through 11:59 p.m. Friday, April 17. The MMDC said its awarding will be based on order of application received, application responses, demonstration of need and available dollars.

Food, beverage and/or “third place” businesses within Medical District boundaries are eligible. So-called third places are places where people spend time outside of home (the first place) and work (the second place.)

Nonprofit organizations are ineligible for the funding, as are payday loan businesses, liquor and tobacco stores, pawn shops, firearm or other weapons dealers, adult entertainment, passive real estate investments and home-based businesses.

Businesses must have seen a decrease in revenue between February and March 2020.

Other requirements and the application can be found here.

Tennessee Action for Hospitality, a state-wide coalition of independent restaurant owners, hourly workers, and chefs that recently formed in the wake of COVID-19 to support hospitality professionals who plan to continue their career in Tennessee when the crisis is over, has partnered with The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee to create A Fund for Us to give relief to those who have lost their job or seen a dramatic decrease in hours worked.

Through A Fund for Us, grants of up to $1,000 will be awarded to individuals who meet the criteria as resources are available. CFMT will administer the fund on behalf of the coalition, following a two-part application process.

Read the criteria for businesses and employees to qualify by clicking here.

A Fund for Us specifically serves individuals from the hospitality sector in the state of Tennessee. Restaurants can register by clicking here. 

Consumer donations will open online next week. Individual applications will open online starting April 13. The Community Foundation of Greater Memphis also has grants available for hospitality workers; click here to read more.

KQ Communications, in partnership with LAB Digital Creative and iHeartMedia Memphis, has created an online database for citizens and businesses to connect with organizations who have resources to aid them during the novel coronavirus pandemic. 

The information compiled at coronavirushelpmemphis includes food and supply assistance, financial assistance, medical and wellness, social engagement and transportation.

Isabella, a 4-year-old patient at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, sailed into hospital history with her decidedly-of-the-times No More Chemo party.

Families from Holy Rosary Catholic School, where Isabella’s older siblings, Kenneth and Mia, are students, were planning a big bash for the family, who moved here from Honduras, more than 2,000 miles away, for her treatment at St. Jude.

The plan was that surprise the family at the hospital for the big confetti party and then return to one of the family’s homes for a party, complete with matching T-shirts.

And then COVID-19 came, and everything changed.

Events that aren’t canceled look so different. 

So, the Holy Rosary gang borrowed an idea from teachers around the nation who’ve staged parades for their homebound students, and brought the party to Isabella.

Parents and kids set up outside the St. Jude campus with decorated vehicles, cheering and waving signs as the family drove out the campus gates and past the line of cars. Then the family parked, and Isabella was — careful to be on the opposite side of the street — walked past her well-wishers, her Memphis friends.

St. Jude says, “Call it love, friendship, school spirit and a little ingenuity in the time of COVID-19.”

The tastings will go on. Earlier this week Glenda Hastings at Napa Café hosted a virtual wine dinner, and on Saturday, DJ Naylor at Celtic Crossing continues his whiskey tasting series, this time on Zoom.

Here’s how it works: Buy your ticket for $30 by clicking here, then go to Celtic, 903 S. Cooper, on Friday between 11 a.m.-9 p.m. or on Saturday 1-6 p.m. to pick up your Scotch eggs and your whiskey; call ahead at 901-274-5151 and let them know when you’re coming and someone will bring your bag to your car.

You’ll get a sample of Dingle Single Malt Irish Whiskey Batch No. 4; Irish Whiskey Awards gold medal winner for 2019; Glenkinchie Single Malt, a lowland Scotch whisky and E.H. Taylor Jr. Straight Rye, 2020 Whiskey of the World favorite.

Shortly before 7 p.m. Saturday, you’ll get an email invitation to join the Zoom meeting, and there you are. Follow along as Naylor talks about the whiskeys and shows slides. You should be able to ask questions, though this is the first time around for the Zoom tasting and it’s subject to change. Be sure to join Zoom ahead of time.